Reports are blowing up on virtually every news outlet right now regarding the illness and hospitalization of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
If the reporting is accurate, Austin had been operated on and hospitalized without Joe Biden having been notified until after there were problems with the surgery.
On Friday, January 5, the Pentagon reported that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in the hospital recovering from an elective medical procedure. It was at this time that we found out the procedure took place on January 1, with the Pentagon never making an announcement, and, apparently, Joe Biden was not informed either.
Lloyd was hospitalized due to “complications following a recent elective medical procedure,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told the media, adding that Austing was “recovering well.”
Austin issued a statement on Saturday on the matter, stating:
“[I] could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.”
CNN is now reporting that Joe Biden had not been aware of the surgery or hospitalization of Austin on Thursday. The report stated:
“National security adviser Jake Sullivan ultimately informed Biden late Thursday afternoon, soon after Sullivan himself learned Austin had been hospitalized, the source said. Austin was admitted to the hospital on New Year’s Day due to complications from an elective surgery.”
GOP Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member for Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was livid and had some very serious questions about why this information was kept from the public and, more importantly, Joe Biden. He stated:
“What role did the Secretary of Defense’s staff play? When exactly was the President notified? What justification did the Department have for withholding information from the National Security Council? To what extent was the Secretary incapacitated by his surgery?
“The very fact that we have none of this information is an indictment of an administration which consistently holds Congressional authority on national defense matters in contempt.”
When you consider the global situation right now, this is a very serious breach of protocol for the Pentagon. How can the Sec. of Defense even consider having surgery without the sitting president being notified?
There is also now a very serious question regarding the communications going on between the White House and the Pentagon. How is it that the Secretary of Defense and the president did not speak for almost a full week, with the United States now neck-deep in two different wars?
This appears to have been a violation of 5 U.S.C. 3349, which is the U.S. code for reporting vacancies in office. This was a violation due to the fact someone else had to be “acting” Secretary of Defense while Austin was under anesthesia and during his hospitalization. This is truly something that puts our national security at risk, and by all accounts, the White House wants to brush it under the rug as though it is no big deal.
